Technology

Costa Mesa, Calif.-based ibank has created a commercial lending search engine that allows small businesses to find lenders and brokers based on four search criteria.The criteria act as a filter, which allows lenders to target their marketing dollars only to those small businesses seeking their products, iBank said. The new engine allows small businesses to search up to 85 different types of small-business loan, equipment leasing, and commercial and home mortgage loan. Lenders can reach these small businesses in three ways: the Organic Lender List, which is composed of information taken online from lender websites by the iBank website's Web crawler; the Classified Campaign Lender, composed of lenders who pay for placement in the classified section of the search engine; and the Premier Campaign Lender, which consists of lenders who have taken a more active approach by registering with iBank's website and creating targeted campaigns that deliver hot prospects directly to their computers each day. The company can be found online at http://www.ibank.com.

FutureNet Realty Technologies, Wexford, Pa., and Allpointe Mortgage, Pittsburgh, have announced a joint venture, FutureNet Mortgage, to provide a no-mortgage-fee, no-cost loan product over the MyFutureNet.com online real estate sales platform.FutureNet said its patent-pending "list-to-close" technology will handle the entire transaction from listing through closing. The system is being tested internally, and it is scheduled for live beta-testing early next year. FutureNet Mortgage searches for the best rates among dozens of top lenders, and a dedicated mortgage adviser brings them to the applicants. "At the core of this process is the TrueClose Web-based loan origination platform, which streamlines the process with online document management allowing [FutureNet Mortgage] to expedite the mortgage process and share these gained efficiencies with the consumer," FutureNet said. The companies can be found online at http://www.myfuturenet.com and http://www.allpointe.com.

Oklahoma City-based a la mode inc. has released FleXApp 1003, an online mortgage loan application system for mortgage brokers and loan officers, as a standalone product.FleXApp 1003 lets brokers provide customer service, a secure environment, and around-the-clock application availability and status updates to borrowers. FleXApp 1003 is housed on a la mode's servers, and the administration interface is accessible from any computer. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.alamode.com.

Del Mar Database, San Diego, has released BusinessTrac, a business management dashboard for small and medium-size mortgage lenders.BusinessTrac integrates with DataTrac, Del Mar Database’s flagship back-office automation system. BusinessTrac allows lenders to track workflow performance around the clock across their entire enterprise, with the ability to drill down through production channels. The product allows users to track their business performance by providing summary and detailed views of real-time information, including loan production, pull-through by product and source, and analysis of product and originator profitability. Del Mar can be found on the Web at http://www.delmardb.com.

PCLender.com has announced that it is integrating the VirtualLoanFolder system of Hasbrouck Heights, N.J.-based PaperClip to offer its customers online document management and electronic delivery capabilities.By the end of the year, PCLender's customers will be able to access all the tools they need to manage their electronic loan documents within PCLender's Web-based loan origination system, the company said. PaperClip's VirtualLoanFolder ASP-based imaging and document management system will be integrated into PCLender, offering users the tools to operate without paper through the PCLender interface. Customers will be able to drag and drop electronic documents into electronic loan folders, input them into the system via scanning, receive them as an electronic fax, or save them into their hosted virtual loan folder. PaperClip can be found on the Web at http://www.paperclip.com.

The adoption of electronic mortgages is being limited by the small number of investors who will buy e-mortgages in the secondary market, but all that may change next year, according to speakers at the Mortgage EC Conference in Las Vegas.Tim Anderson, executive vice president of Dexma, said people will realize the intrinsic benefits of transacting electronically. He predicted that investors might even start offering incentives. "In 2006, I predict an investor will actually offer 1/8th of a point if the mortgage is electronic," Mr. Anderson concluded. Minneapolis-based Dexma can be found on the Web at http://www.dexma.com.

Countrywide Home Loans Inc., Calabasas, Calif., unveiled the company's position on how it will leverage the Web next year to expand its market share at the SourceMedia-sponsored Mortgage EC Conference in Las Vegas.According to the USC Center for Digital Future, 75% of Americans have access to the Web. In addition, 80% of consumers report being online, says a recent Doubleclick Survey. As a result, Countrywide will dedicate 30% of its marketing budget to direct online marketing, according to Bruce Cornelius, executive vice president of the company's consumer markets division. The goal is to become, by 2010, a diversified financial services company serving the needs of households, investors, and institutions, with mortgage lending at its core, Mr. Cornelius said. Countrywide can be found online at http://www.countrywide.com.

Houston-based Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corp. has used proprietary extensions to its technology tools to accommodate an ever-changing mortgage market, Allied chief information officer David Langston told the recent 7th Annual Mortgage EC Conference in Las Vegas.Allied, the largest broker/banker in the country, runs many technology applications, and Mr. Langston contended that the tools used by Allied aren't updated fast enough to allow such a large company to operate efficiently. As a result, Allied has created proprietary extensions to Del Mar Database's DataTrac product to allow for the bundling of services and to its LOS Calyx Point to allow it to operate in a centralized fashion. Since the updates were made, Calyx has released a comparable product and Del Mar will take advantage of its parent company, Fiserv, to offer bundled services with version 8.0. Mr. Langston reported that Allied will evaluate both upgrades to see which better fits the company's needs, the proprietary extensions or the product enhancements from Calyx and Del Mar. Allied can be found online at http://www.mortgageasap.com.

Archive Systems, Fairfield, N.J., has announced an agreement with Ryan Beck & Co., an investment banker and broker based in Florham Park, N.J., to provide Archive's comprehensive process automation service to manage all client documentation.Aspen 360 Broker/Dealer Edition offers a services-based system for Web-based image hosting and workflow management. "This service will transform Ryan Beck's previous paper-based, manual process into an automated solution that manages the flow of all client documents in a fully redundant, Web-based environment," Archive Systems said. Ryan Beck will be able to use remote document capture through scanning gateways to scan documents directly into the Aspen system. "Archive Systems offers the only comprehensive 'software-as-a-service' model with the flexibility to roll out a solution enterprise-wide," said Nick Leone, senior vice president and director of operations at Ryan Beck. The companies can be found online at http://www.archivesystems.com and http://www.ryanbeck.com.

Financial Industry Computer Systems Inc., Dallas, has announced new upgrades to eStatus, a residential mortgage loan servicing product that provides online customer service for borrowers.The upgrades to eStatus (which interfaces in real time with Mortgage Servicer, the FICS residential mortgage servicing system) enable lenders to present "a more unified branding message" on their websites and to create a more user-friendly environment for borrowers, FICS said. A lender can reduce incoming call volume by sending a standardized e-mail message to borrowers encouraging them to view statements and notices on the lender's eStatus website, according to FICS. "Because documents are available for display in eStatus as soon as they are generated in Mortgage Services, borrowers always have access to up-to-date information about their loans," the company said. FICS can be found online at http://www.loanware.com.